D & R Tobacco Picayune "The Pride of New Orleans"

This is serious perique, not for the faint of heart or uninitiated! I decided to load up a Washington cob on a frigid new England winter day and give it a shot, let's just say the tobacco won that fight. This was way too spicy by itself for my taste, but I still found it interesting and wanted to figure out how to utilize it, sort of like finding a use for habanero or ghost chili's. I discovered Adding a bit of picayune to aromatic blends works ok I have quite a bit of "Cavendish in the woods" blend by Russ's blends and blending about 30% picayune to it makes for a sweet, smokey vanilla treat. That being said I would not order this again, simply too spicy for my taste.

This is a good blend overall, if you are looking for St. Nic. It comes close to the nic in G&H and SG blends of ropes and plugs but not quite as strong. It also lacks some of their complexity. I do think it has been topped with licorice root but it is a very light topping that does not interfere with the tobaccos. Yet, it is a good quick smoke that satisfies the cravings. Room not is a little strong so if you are going to be around others that object to smoke a quick shower would be in order before company arrives. I really cannot see this as replacing the stronger blends I have in my rotations but it is a good quick smoke and if money were tight I would pick it up again as it is about 1/2 the price of G&H, SG blends. Still, when I need a quicker smoke I find myself reaching for G&H Dark Bird's Eye over this but that is just my preference. If you like good strong tobacco this is worth adding to an order to try for yourself.

Daughters and Ryan gets a bad rap. I don't know why. That's a lie, I do know why: their tobacco looks cheap. It is cheaper than its competitors, but it also looks "cheap." I don't think it's cheap, but I'm happy it is cheap.

Picayune is excellent. Bold. Bold strength, bold flavor. It reminds me of semois in its strength and sharpness, but there is sweetness and less of a cigar-like quality. There's also a mild mustiness that I attribute to the Orientals - this is only after smoking it for a long time, I wouldn't have picked this out immediately.

While great on its own, its also great added to other blends. I keep a "spice jar" of it on hand so I can add it to a mediocre blend. Has the same effect as salt on meat or bland chicken, just brings everything to life.

Definitely an excellent cheap tobacco that's not cheap at all.

I wish I would have stocked up on this blend. Picayune is strong, rich, earthy, complex, and everything I like out of a tobacco. I really appreciate the nuttiness and fermented depth of the flavor profile.

I think this is a desert island blend for me. I bought a pound, based on reviews here, very glad I did. This blend has several things going for it, at least for my tastes. No additives, burns perfectly down to a dry ash. Almost no need to clean the pipe afterwards. Strength. I find it to be the most satisfying smoke, not just from the nicotine, the flavors are so rich and satisfying as well. I keep going back to it. If you puff too fast, it will get the best of you. And the flavors will be off. As other reviewers have mentioned, a low and slow burn is best for bringing out the flavors. Don't do a full bowl char or light, as that takes it into pepper pot territory, with head spins and seared sinuses. It takes me 5 or 6 gentle lights to get it going, then it is smooth and tasty. All the varietals can be tasted throughout the smoke. I smoke it slow, so relights are needed, just the barest touch of the flame does the trick. Highly recommended!

Edit: Another loss for the pipe community. Just when I was ready for a refill. As a substitute, I like C&D Exclusive with a dash of Izmir and a dash of Five Bros.

3rdguy

Finally finished a full tin of this. Comes dry so you are hot paying for moisture but considering the offset that it is a 40 gram tin makes it a wash.

I could not get into this blend. Cigarette in open form is the Genesis of this and if that is your thing then you will love this blend. Not my cup of tea and ended up using it as a blending agent to finish the tin. Did not seem strong to me in nicotine, or flavor. It was not a bad smoke by any means just offered nothing interesting to make me want to reach for it.

D&R Picayune is a unique tobacco and a blend i knew i had to cellar after smoking 1 bowl from a OZ sample and ended up ordering a LB about a week later. First off this is a shag cut tobacco that could be compaired to 5 Brothers, both are fairly strong but not going to knock your socks off as some reviewers claim. My first experience with D&R was 2 Timer and was a bit put off at first by the dryness and RYO references that perhaps swayed my opinion a bit but am SOOO happy i did not give up on this brand as they have a lot to offer. One of the best prices for a quality pipe tobacco not cased in PG and can be found for $20/LB or $25 if you want it in a mylar bag. The tobacco does come on the dry side so you do get a good volume but it does burn a bit faster as a result. The flavor is sort of strong and plenty going on for the discerning palette. As with most pipe tobaccos a 1OZ sample would be the way to go to see if it is something you may like, really wish ALL pipe tobaccos were available in bulk since most of us transfer it into Mason Jars anyways although the Tins do add a bit of Nostalgia plus some cool tin art to go with the blend. Just remember sometimes it is good to give a tobacco/blender a fair shot before making any concrete conclusions as we can all have a "off" day due to variables in diet or whatnot. Cant stand it when i see reviews that carry on how horrible a blend it after a few puffs whithout really knowing what that tobacco is really about. SOrry for the rant, just had to put that out there as some of these TR reviews can get a bit out of hand (Mixture 79 perfect example lol). If you like Picayune you may want to check out: 5 Brothers, D&R 3 Sails, KBV Live Wire.

Powerful and bold. This is a tobacco for seasoned lovers of strong, spicy and high nicotine blends. The finer cut on this allows you to pack it more firmly and also blend it with more subtley with other thicker cut tobaccos. I only use this for blending. I also had a go at putting this in a tube (with filter) but jeez, it is NOT meant for that. It rips your throat to shreds and will likely make you gag, however seasoned you are. I found that for MYO it can only work as a blend component of 30-40% MAX. Maybe there are some lunatics out there who tube this stuff, but I do not recommend it for that, and I while I do recommend trying it straight in a pipe, at least for the experience, I still would only use a small amount in blending to give that spice and BBQ smokiness.

Wow! This is potent. I first loaded my Kaywoodie 61, a small oval pipe sometimes referred to as a "skater" with this and got a 15-20 minute smoke.

I judge this as significantly more nicotine-heavy than brown rope or any of the Kendal shags which I regularly smoke. Within a few minutes I could feel my heart rate increase and it stayed that way for a long time after I was finished. My sinuses were opened up from the perique and I felt energized, like I could dead lift 600# and wrestle a bear. It reminded me of a 50 to 60 mg dose of Prednisone. If this doesn't wake you up nothing will. Subsequent smokes were not as dramatic but certainly did perk me up.

Additionally, it tastes great! I don't find it to be any more full in taste than the UK ropes or shags. The perique is spicy but not over-the-top peppery to my tastes. It has a subtle cigar-like quality. Not an all day smoke for me, but once per day would be reasonable.